


,Love Dad x

by AuthorInDistress



Series: White Blank Page [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alpha/Omega, Angst, F/F, Spin-Off, commission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-29
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-11-06 15:18:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11038851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuthorInDistress/pseuds/AuthorInDistress
Summary: In which Kageyama finds some photographs and learns something new about what he'd never really thought about before.AU to'White Blank Page'.





	,Love Dad x

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LetshangoncloudsX](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LetshangoncloudsX/gifts).
  * Inspired by [White Blank Page](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6600280) by [AuthorInDistress](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuthorInDistress/pseuds/AuthorInDistress). 



> This is a commission for the lovely [trashymemebabe96](https://trashymemebabe96.tumblr.com/) and I hope she likes it!!!

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* * *

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The Akiyama Elementary school building always reminded Tobio of a church, with it's clock tower at it's centre on a red-bricked roof and the old-fashioned sounding school bell that rang for _'hometime'_. His mother had looked confused the first time he'd told her but after a few seconds she'd then said that she 'could see it' and agreed.

He ran out with the other children, grabbing his rucksack and heading out into the carpark where he saw his mother waiting. She saw him coming and unlocked the door, handing him a plate of strawberries to eat on the way home whilst he told her about his day.

He'd made it onto the volleyball team for a second year now and his skills had grown a lot since the first time that he'd tried it out; he could actually set without the ball hitting him in the face more often than not now and the coach had praised his extra practicing. His excitement was a great distraction because he didn't realise that they weren't going home until they were pulling into the supermarket's carpark.

"No, _mama_ ," He moaned, slamming his back into his seat with frustration, "No, I'm tired, I wanna go home ... !"

"Just a few things, Tobio," She assured him tiredly, getting out and gesturing he follow, "Come on."

"You always say that and then we buy the whole supermarket," He complained, doing as he was told anyway and climbing out of the car. His mother laughed, giving him a look.

"I don't buy the whole supermarket, I just need some things for tomorrow's party okay?" She said, walking toward the trolleys and pulling one free.

"If it's only a few things, why do we need a trolley?" Tobio asked, kicking his feet into the dirt as he walked.

"We're out of our regular groceries too," She answered, bracing herself for his anger.

" _MaMA ... !"_

His anger lasted the entire shopping trip and only let up when she told him to pick something that he wanted to eat himself and he immediately ran toward the cake aisle, choosing a plain vanilla cake with some creamy filling.

Before they paid, his mother took him to the bakery section and they slid his cake out of it's box and asked him his name, which they then wrote down with some pink-coloured icing and dotted it with chocolate chips.

Now that he had a cake for dessert, he was significantly happier, bouncing as he helped his mother with the bags. Once they were home he put the cake away before anything else and his mother reached over his head to put anything that he couldn't reach in it's place.

"Go and change out of your uniform quickly then come right back down," She told him, putting the last bag of groceries down on the worktop and taking out two packets of the pasta that she'd bought, "I'm going to need your help with dinner today, I won't have time to cook tomorrow so we're making enough for two days."

"What are we making?" He asked, tapping a beat over the table's surface. His mother picked the packets up and shook them like maracas, giving him a look that made him lower himself sheepishly, "Oh."

She smiled, popping open one of the packets and shooing him upstairs, "Go get changed and get in the attic. I need one of those huge pans for the pasta."

"Why?"

"Because I'm cooking for two days _goldfish_ , now go." He ran before she could rap him on the head and bounded up the stairs, peeling off his blazer as he went and hanging it up in his wardrobe. Seeing as he wasn't likely to go anywhere now, he changed into his pyjamas and went into the attic to get one of the larger pans for the pasta.

The attic was really just another guest room but they used it for storage, with old toys and clothes and gifts from people that they'd not yet made use of. He opened the cupboard in the corner where the pans usually were, heaving the sewing machine out of the way and climbing inside.

He'd only ever seen his mother take the pans out before and she could reach in easily but he was a lot smaller than her which meant he had to actually crawl into the cupboard and yank the pan out with both hands.

He ducked his head to avoid hitting it and fumbled with the light switch on the wall. Once it was on, he could see what he was leaning on and peered around cautiously for any insects or spiders that might be lurking nearby.

His skin crawled as he imagined them walking over his hands and neck but when he didn't spot any he calmed and pushed aside the plastic boxes that his mother had brought over from their old house.

The pans were probably at the back which would be just his luck and as he slid further in, his hands knocked one of the boxes over in panic when he thought that he'd felt a spider's web on his cheek.

Papers and photographs and CDs spilled out and he winced, scooping them up to dump them back inside before feeling bad about his poor treatment of his mother's things and trying to sort them out instead.

He stacked the papers into a neat pile and placed them inside before going through the photos and twisting them around until they were all facing the same way and were evenly stacked as well.

Most of them were baby photographs of him and he stared at them; intrigued. Almost all of the clothes that he was in as a baby was made up of a mixture of red and pink, from his hats to his socks, and the combination was an eyesore to him though that was probably only because he refrained from wearing those colours nowadays from the way his school peers spoke about them.

He flicked through the photos, snorting when he then found a few of his mother at a young age as well, with her trousers rolled up to her knees as she stood in a river. Her face was screwed up as she cried from the cold and that, coupled with the fact that she was also wearing a sunhat that was far too big for her, made the photograph hilarious.

He giggled down at it, putting it aside to take down and show his mother later just to embarrass her when he spotted the photograph that was just beneath it. His mother was older in it, looking a lot similar to how she looked now, and she was holding Tobio in her arms and laughing with another person in the photo.

Besides her was a woman of a similar age who had a hand on one of Tobio's legs and seemed to be tickling it. She had long dark hair, much thicker than his mother's, and her skin was a little paler than theirs too. He felt his lips part as he traced a finger over her face, her wide jaw and scarred lip stirring something inside him that he wasn't familiar with.

He put the photo down, finding another with the same woman. He was older in this photograph too, standing on his own without any help and with a red headband to keep his hair out of his face. The woman was holding his hand and talking down to him, wearing what looked like a dark green felt suit with stars on it's shoulders and miniature flags near it's collar. He looked like he'd been crying, his eyes rimmed red, and judging by the shadow of a suitcase in the shot he was saying goodbye to whoever this was.

The last photo in the set was another of him and the woman, but this time she was in normal clothing and they were reading a book together on a sofa that he recognised as being the one from their old house; before they'd moved.

His heart clenched and he gently plucked the last three photographs up and slipped them down his shirt, putting the rest away and crawling further in to find the pan.

Once he had it and had yanked it out, he lifted it up as best he could and carried it down the stairs and into the kitchen. His mother had already done most of the work and was texting someone on her phone by the time he stepped inside.

"Oh Tobio, not that one!" She protested, laughing when she saw him staggering under it's weight like a penguin, "How did you even carry that down?" She took it from him, setting it down with a groan and shaking her head at him, "Sometimes I wonder if you have a brain in there."

"You said a big pan," He protested, _"That's_ a big pan."

She flicked him between the eyes, "It's fine for now but you're washing it afterwards. Now go and peel seven of those big potatoes that we bought and dice them up for me."

"Do I have to?" He slumped, "I'm tired."

"It's just the potatoes," She sighed, putting her phone down and filling the pan with water to boil, "You know I want you to know how to cook."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," He took the scissors out of the cutlery drawer, cutting the potato bag and pulling seven of them free. His mother handed him the peeler and he got to work whilst she waited for the water to boil for the pasta.

"Hey mama," He spoke up after a while, dicing the first potato into several pieces and scraping it to one side with the knife once he was done. She hummed to let him know that she was listening but he paused, shaking his shirt so that the photographs fell out of it. He quickly bent to pick them up before they could become spoiled in the peels that he'd let fall and his mother turned around to see what he was doing, " ... who's this?" He asked, showing her the photos.

She wiped her hands on the kitchen towel, taking them from him and frowning before her eyes lit up with clear recognition, "Huh." She said, her voice light, but there was a lack of energy behind it that made him worry that he'd said or done the wrong thing. Maybe those boxes were private.

"Mama?" He stepped forward, into her space, "What's wrong?" She shook her head, smiling a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes but wasn't wholly sad either. Almost as though she _had_ been sad but the moment had passed.

" _This,"_ She then said, pointing to the woman and pressing the photos back into his hands, "Is your father, Tobio."

Kageyama stared up at her, his eyes widening unconsciously as he processed what that meant.

"My ... father?"

.

* * *

.

_**Nine years ago.** _

Growing up, her mother had always disapproved of her 'obsession' with the colours red and pink as she'd tried to match each of her belongings with the combination, and it had been a tiring and long process shopping for school essentials and the like. Mostly because if the products weren't in either red or pink, a tantrum followed for hours afterwards.

Now, however, the colours looked wonderful when used in the clothing that she'd swamped her baby in and he seemed to like them himself too; sucking on the edge of his pink bib with teeth that were just barely showing.

"I wish you'd bring him here more often," Yuuki said with a click of her teeth, tugging the bib out of Tobio's mouth and bumping him further into her lap with her knee, "He's never even been to the temple for his _omiyamairi,_ or to see my parents' graves."

"He's barely four months old, mama, what would he need to do in a graveyard besides cry from the cold?"

"And the _omiyamairi?_ " Yuuki pressed, frowning, "You've already passed the time-frame but I spoke with Kami and he said it should be fine, just this once, because you live so far from us."

Hana frowned back, watching carefully for any signs of her son starting to get agitated. According to her doctor, his teething was earlier than most children but not so early that it was unusual, but it meant that he was likely to get a lot more upset than a slightly older child would once his gums started to hurt.

He seemed fine at the moment, however, which lost her her excuse to leave the room without answering her mother's question, "He isn't going to have a _omiyamairi_ , mama, I told you that last time."

"And I told you that he needed it," Yuuki snapped, ignoring the fact that there were people in the world who'd want to disagree with her on such a topic; or any topic for that matter, "It's tradition - "

"I know that mama, but Su-Jin and I thought it would be better to have both traditions mixed and to do the  _omiyamairi_ on his - "

"You've already offended Kami enough by waiting more than a month past when you should have been here, Hana," Yuuki interrupted, "Are you not grateful for the birth of your child?"

Hana rolled her eyes, "Of _course_ I am, mama ... "

"Then why aren't you going to show your thanks for it?"

"Mama. I _am_ going to, I've told you this before, Su-Jin and I are going to - "

"Was it Su-Jin's idea to delay?" Yuuki demanded, cutting her daughter off again. On her lap, Tobio mouthed around the bib again as his gums started to ache, his eyes squinting up at the sound of raised voices.

" _No_ , we both thought of this mama, stop trying to poke holes in _everything_ that I decide and make it seem as though she's brainwashed me. She wanted me to do the _omiyamairi_ on time but I - "

"Well good. She's got one thing right." Yuuki bounced Tobio over her legs when he started to fuss, soft and broken mewls becoming muffled by the material that he was shoving into his mouth, "Shush now. It's not that bad." Hana reached over to take him back but Yuuki shook her head, "I have him, I'm his grandmother, you think I don't know how to calm him down?" She lifted Tobio up over her shoulder, rubbing his back and swiveling her body to soothe him, "Make me some tea while I try to get him to sleep."

"He's not been fed yet." Hana protested, her hands clenching when she couldn't wrap them around her baby, "Let me - "

"Make some tea first, you can't feed him when he's about to cry," And as though he'd heard and understood her, Tobio released the bib and let out a wail right into his grandmother's ear. She winced but continued to rub his back, standing now to pace back and forth as he cried around the pain in his mouth.

Hana watched for a few moments before realising that her mother was not going to change her mind and leaving to make some tea in the kitchen. Tobio's crying followed her as she left and she took her phone out of her pocket whilst the pan boiled the milk over the stove to distract herself. Su-Jin's number was on her most recent and she texted her as she waited.

 **Me: If you don't get here soon I am going to kill myself or kill my mother.** She typed, and she'd just poured the milk over the leaves in two mugs when she got a reply.

**Alphy: Lets not rid our son of 1 parent so soon. Death or prison wnt suit you <3**

Hana smiled, texting her back once she'd put the pan in the sink to cool.

**Me: If you cant make it in the next 10 minutes, call me and make up and excuse for us to leave then**

**Me: I am s**

She cursed, her thumb pressing send in her haste to type before the tea cooled.

**Me: *so tired of her and it's only been half a day**

**Me: safe me**

She put her phone down only to pick it back up again when she felt it vibrate with a message.

**Alphy: *save**

She scoffed, taking the mugs into the living space and shutting the kitchen door after her with her foot. Tobio was no longer crying but he didn't look happy either. He had his red dummy in his mouth and seemed to be mimicking a cow chewing on it's cud rather than sucking on it like usual, his blue eyes bright and his cheeks wet from tears.

His bib had been taken off too, soaking wet from drool and his crying, but he grabbed at it anyway and shook it around in his fist to display his unhappiness. Hana smiled down at him as she placed the mugs down on the coffee table, sitting back on the sofa opposite her mother. Yuuki reached behind her to pull forward the baby seat and gently placed Tobio in it, buckling him in and sliding the hood down to try to lull him to sleep.

"Let me feed him first, mama." Hana said, standing again to unbuckle him. Tobio spat his dummy out as soon as he saw her, likely knowing exactly what was coming, and his arms and legs danced in anticipation when she picked him up. Yuuki sipped at her tea whilst Hana breastfed, watching Tobio's eyes slowly slide shut as he drank, content that he was being fed.

"I don't mean to lecture you, Hana, but sometimes I feel as though you don't care about tradition." She said, lecturing despite saying she didn't mean to.

Hana lifted Tobio to her shoulder once he'd turned from her nipple, smacking his lips to show that he was done, and began burping him, "I do care, mama. I just don't see it as the be-all or end-all of life. There are other things that are important as well and Shrines have so many babies and people visiting them, who knows how many illnesses there are as well. I want to delay it until Tobio can at least protect himself from bugs and I can have vaccines given to him."

"Well why haven't you already?" Yuuki sniped, raising an eyebrow.

"I couldn't get an appointment but I have one in a few weeks."

"And then you'll do the _omiyamairi_ _?"_

" _No,_ mama. In a _year!"_ Tobio hiccuped over her shoulder, a little milk dribbling out of his open mouth which she mopped up with a stray tissue from the table, standing to put him back in the baby seat, "This isn't a discussion, I've already decided and Tobio is _my_ \- " There was a knock at the door and she glanced toward it before turning back to her mother, "That'll be Su-Jin."

The door slid open a few seconds later and Su-Jin stepped inside, shaking her hair down from the bun that she'd had it in, "You shouldn't leave the door open, Yuuki-san," She said by way of a greeting, "Anyone could walk in."

"Anyone has." Yuuki responded, raising an eyebrow. Su-Jin didn't rise to the bait however, and took a seat besides her wife, taking a sip of the tea.

"Oi, that's _mine,"_ Hana frowned.

"Well we made a child together, I doubt a shared cup of tea matters much," Su-Jin said but she put the mug down anyway and turned to face Yuuki, noting that she was outright glaring at her now and not bothering to hide it, "Sorry I'm late Yuuki-san, I had an urgent phone call that I needed to deal with."

"It's no problem. You're here now," Yuuki said, rocking the baby seat with her foot when Tobio started flailing around, _"Shh ... "_ Her rocking only seemed to agitate him further however as he started to cry again, kicking out until one of his little socks actually slipped off and flopped to the floor.

Su-Jin stood, unbuckling him and lifting him onto her shoulder, pacing up and down with him much like Yuuki had done so before. "I'll take him outside, see if he wants some fresh air." Hana nodded, standing to pull a hat over Tobio's head and ears.

"I barely get to see my grandson and now you're taking him away?" Yuuki asked, putting her mug down.

"We'll be back in a few minutes, Yuuki-san," Su-Jin said, not quite rolling her eyes but clearly wanting to. Yuuki just huffed, watching as she opened the door to the garden and stepped outside. 

Once the door was closed again, she gave her daughter a look, "I really don't understand it, Hana."

"Leave it mama."

"Your soulmate marks are completely different, your backgrounds are different ... even your lifestyles!"

"Yes, but the way we love each other and want to raise our _child_ is the same." Hana countered.

"Oh yes," Yuuki sniffed, "Raise him in the army."                        

Hana's hands clenched into the material of her dress and she pushed herself to her feet, "I think we better get home. We've got a long drive."

"Oh don't be like that, Hana, sit down," Yuuki protested, but she was ignored, "Hana!"

Hana opened the garden door, squinting from the sunlight and spotting Su-Jin sitting on the grass with Tobio in her lap, showing him a snowbell that she'd picked and raising an eyebrow when he seemed more fascinated by it's stalk than the petals. The sight almost rid her of her anger but she knew that if they stayed, her mother would only start again, only worse when Su-Jin came back inside.

"You joining us?" Su-Jin asked from where she sat, noticing her standing there now, "Or is it time to make an excuse?"

"No excuse," Hana muttered, lifting Tobio into her arms so Su-Jin could stand, "I told her outright we're leaving. I'm sick of her comments on your job or my decisions! Even after our engagement announcement, I thought that she'd learn that I _love_ you but she'll never get over this all. Never."

Su-Jin smiled, "I love it when you're pissed."

"Well I am pissed. Very very pissed. So let's _go."_

"You shouldn't let her get to you," Su-Jin said instead of starting to leave, "She's traditional and we _are_ getting married _after_ having a child."

"I don't care! And that's not even her issue!" Hana snapped, lowering her voice only when Tobio seemed to get distressed by it, "If you were japanese, she wouldn't care."

"Or your soulmate?" Su-Jin added, and Hana sighed, "Your mother isn't so prejudiced that she'd reject your soulmate if they weren't japanese."

"But you aren't her soulmate," Yuuki said, surprising Hana who'd not heard her come out to join them, "Are you?" Hana rounded on her but she was cut off before she even began, "Hana, if you're leaving then go. But Su-Jin, if I could talk to you? Before you leave?"

Su-Jin nodded and shrugged at the same time, "Of course." She met Hana's eyes, nodding again until their unspoken conversation ended with an agreement.

"I'll wait in the car," Hana muttered, stepping inside to put Tobio back in the baby seat. Su-Jin watched her go before turning back toward Yuuki and gesturing that she start her conversation, whilst Hana plucked the car-keys from the table and left the house.

She unlocked the doors, tugging the seatbelt around Tobio's seat and clicking it in and laughing when he suddenly seemed ecstatic at being in the car again, "Hey hey," She tickled his stomach, "Happy we're going home? Hm?" He screamed, his tiny teeth showing in a bizarre smile and she bent to press a kiss to his nose, "Me too." She murmured then, shutting the door and climbing into the front seat and spinning around to face Tobio from there, laughing again when he clapped his hands from happiness. 

A half hour passed as they sat there and his excitement eventually died down whilst Hana turned the radio on to rid her of her boredom. She was just considering getting back out and knocking on the door when Su-Jin stepped out and rapped her knuckles on the window to be let in.

"What did she want?" Hana asked as Su-Jin started the car and pulled out of the slot that she'd parked in before. Hana rooted around in her purse for the train ticket that she'd bought to get here and used it flick a stray fly out the open window.

"To give me a talking-to about being good for you and not raising my son on army values."

"Oh for God's Sake." Hana rolled her eyes.

"It's fine, Hana, she's just traditional. She'll get over it."

.

* * *

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_**Present day.** _

Kageyama went to school the next day with this newfound knowledge lodged in his mind.

He'd always known that he had a father, he _had_ to, that was how life worked but he'd never really given it much thought other than that, but now? Now he knew a few things about her that suddenly made her seem so human. Like she'd actually existed. His other parent ... and he wasn't quite sure how he felt about that.

His father had been in the army, in the _Korean_ army. His mother had said that she'd first seen her when their bosses had met, when a General in charge of his troops had brought them to the clinic to 'relax'.

His mother had been his father's assigned therapist which had been their first conversation; it wasn't quite the romantic meetings that movies showed him but it had sounded slightly sweet when his mother had told him too.

He spent the day imagining how their next conversations would have gone and how his father had asked his mother out, because they must have eventually dated to have made him. From all the photos, it wasn't a mistake. He was sure of it.

So what happened?

His mother had just told him a few things about his father and then said that it was all in the past so he'd kept his questions back to refrain from upsetting her but he really wanted to know _more._ Who was his father? Why was she not here anymore? And how had they stayed together in those photos when she'd been part of the army in another country?

He was scolded for drifting off several times in class but he barely noticed and ended up in more trouble for doodling medals and stars over his worksheet borders.

His distraction didn't end there however and he spent more time staring at the photos than doing his homework or practicing volleyball. He felt fascinated by a person he didn't remember but the only person who could tell him more was out of the question.

He sighed, a few days having passed since he'd found the photos and since then it was all that he could think about. He'd even had a dream that his father came to his school one day, dangling down from the window of a fancy army helicopter, and hoisting him up with the rope that she was holding so he could fly off with her; to visit Korea for the first time in his life.

It was then that it hit him. His mother wasn't the only person who'd known his father. His ba-chan must have too, of _course_ she must have, and he could ask her if he needed to. He doubted she would get upset because nothing ever seemed to and she would just get more annoyed than tearful anyway.

He would have to get the train to visit her however, because he really didn't want to ask his mother to take him, but he also couldn't take the train himself without her finding out.

When he was picked up in the school carpark though, he realised that he needn't have worried so much. They'd been invited to his grandmother's tomorrow as she wanted to make a huge deal out of _'respect the aged' day_ like usual, and to have her daughter and grandson come around to praise her old age. He hated going but still, it beat sitting at home and watching the news show stories of 'amazing' old people to celebrate their skill at living so long. And he wanted to know more about his father.

His mother brushed his hair back for him as they got ready, sliding a black headband on to keep his bangs back and giving him a blossom-patterned yukata, that his grandaunt had gifted them once, to put on. He hated yukatas, they were so fiddly to put on and the bow on the back hindered his balance as he walked but he was always told by elderly omegas that he would 'get used to it'. 

He much rather preferred t-shirts and so on but if he was to visit his grandmother, traditional clothing was the way to go unfortunately.

His mother wore a red and green pleated _hakama_ and bunched her hair into a bun, giving him a tense smile as she did her makeup like she always did before visiting her mother.

"Come on then," She said once she was done, taking his hand and leading him out to the car. She put the radio on for the journey and Kageyama sang along to the songs that he knew and struggled with the ones that he didn't, making up lyrics as he went along whilst his mother just both laughed and winced when he destroyed song after song, "Stop it now, you're giving me a headache," She complained after a while, however, "Look out the window at the fields instead."

He pouted, folding his arms across his chest, but he did as told and gazed out at the greenery and livestock, and his mother's trick to distract him worked because they arrived before he knew it. The sun was high in the sky as they did and he wished he'd brought his sunglasses, just so he could look a little cooler in his yukata.

His grandmother was in the front garden, chatting with her neighbour, and she beamed when she saw Kageyama step out of the car, "Oh look at you!" Her neighbour, an elderly omega who had always lived there as far as Kageyama could remember, smiled down at him too, "Don't you look pretty, babu."

Kageyama felt his shoulders rise self-consciously, not sure whether to thank the compliment or try to be humble and say that it wasn't true, but his mother saved him by greeting the neighbour over anything he might say anyway.

"Hi! How are you, Masumu?" She asked, coming closer, "I saw your daughter the other day, on her schoolrun, and she said you'd been in the hospital?"

"Oh no, no that was just a check-up," Masumu waved a hand irritably, "She worries too much, I'm _fine._ Just old," He made a face, "It's good to see you though, Hana, we've missed you around here," He then turned to Kageyama with a gentler smile, "You too, Tobio. Your grandmother's right, you look very pretty in that yukata. Pink suits you." Kageyama wrinkled his nose at that and Masumu laughed, "Well anyway, I'd better get back inside. The laundry isn't done yet and I'm not supposed to be standing up for so long."

"I'll bring you that soup I told you about later," Kageyama's grandmother said, waving at him as she went to head inside as well. His mother followed suit, taking Kageyama by the hand and leading him into the house whilst locking the car with her other hand.

His grandmother must have been cooking before they'd arrived because the smell of meat was strong near the kitchen and living space but she led them outside into the back garden anyway.

He froze as soon as he stepped out however, staring at the garden. The snowbell flower patch on it's edge was gone, replaced by plain grass and mint, "What happened to the flowers?" He asked, sounding as distraught as he felt.

"Hm?" His grandmother looked at the patch herself now and shrugged as she sat on one of the plastic chairs she'd brought outside, "Oh I got tired of those flowers, their petals would always look so disgusting after it rained."

"But they were my favourite," Kageyama moaned, glaring down at the mint.

"They're just flowers, Tobio, don't be silly," She muttered, "I've not killed something, you don't need to look that upset." Despite just getting here, his mother already looked frustrated and she stood abruptly with a sigh.

"I'm going to make some tea quickly," She said. His grandmother looked up at her for a few seconds before nodding and gesturing that Kageyama sit next to her. He did so, hoisting himself up onto the seat and turning his back on what used to be his favourite flower patch.

"So how old are you now, then?" His grandmother asked, tucking a stray strand of hair behind his ear, "Four? Sixty? A hundred and ninety?"

He gave her a look, "You came to my birthday party, ba-chan, you know I'm nine."

"It's just a joke, babu," She knocked him on the head, "I don't know where your sense of humor went."

That perked him up and he looked at the door just to double-check that his mother wasn't standing there, "What was my dad's sense of humor?" He asked, leaning closer and watching as his grandmother's eyes widened in surprise.

"Your father?" She asked, "What do you know about her?"

"I know she was in the army," Kageyama told her, "But I don't know why she left. Or ... anything other than that really." He looked down before snapping his head back up, "Oh, wait. I do know that she met my mum at the clinic that she works at. But that's it."

"She didn't meet her at _that_ clinic," His grandmother said, "Not the one you're thinking of anyway. Your mother used to work in a different clinic before you were born."

"Did you ever meet my dad?" Kageyama asked then, his heart fluttering at the knowledge of learning something new about the woman in his dreams and photographs.

His grandmother groaned as she leant back, putting a hand to her hip with a wince, "I did," She said, "Many times."

"Where is she now?"

"In Korea, I imagine," She scoffed, "You see, your father decided that her job as a General was more important than her family."

What? Kageyama blinked, sucking his bottom lip into his mouth with his teeth, "She was a General?"

"Not when she met your mother, no, but she was promoted just after you were born. And when you were three, she left entirely."

Kageyama's heart stopped his fluttering and instead he felt it solidify, freezing in his chest when he processed what she meant and why he was down one parent, "She ... left?" He sat back, frowning. He'd always thought his father had never even met him but those photos had changed that opinion drastically because it was more than clear to see that his father had known him for _years_ before she'd disappeared, so he'd thought that that had meant it was different.

He'd always thought that if she'd met him she would have changed her mind and stayed but if she already had and _still_ left then -

"Did she leave ... because of me?" He asked, his voice shaking, but before his grandmother could answer his mother came back out with two mugs of tea and a glass of orange juice on a tray.

"Why did who leave?" She asked curiously, sitting down and passing one of the mugs into her mother's hands. Kageyama winced, looking at her but his grandmother answered for him anyway.

"Tobio was wondering what happened to his father." She said, blowing over the rim of her mug and seemingly oblivious to how her daughter's face fell before then suddenly morphing into something murderously angry. Kageyama panicked, wondering if that was aimed at him, and he shrank back in his seat.

"Mama - "

"What did you tell him?" His mother spoke over him, her voice icy cold. His grandmother looked surprised to hear it and raised her eyebrows.

"The truth," She said, sounding affronted, "That she left when he was three. "

His mother nodded slowly, "I see." She set her mug down, looking Kageyama dead in the eye now, "That's true, Tobio. She did leave when you were three, because she was busy and she was needed in Korea for her work," She sniffed, blinking a few times to rid her eyes of tears, "She was supposed to come back in a few months," She continued and Kageyama tilted his head, listening, "But she never did."

"Hana - "

"Because of your grandmother," She snapped, glaring at her mother now, "Your grandmother and her sister, and my uncle and cousins, all banded together to talk to Su-Jin separately and convince her that she should not marry me and should just leave."

His grandmother scoffed, "She tell you that, did she?"

"No," His mother said with a dry laugh, "I found your letters to her when I cleaned out your room, one time. Thanking her for listening to reason and all that bullshit." Kageyama blinked, knowing just how angry his mother was now that she'd actually sworn, "And now I think it's time for us to go."

His grandmother's face flashed with anger, "Don't be such an idiot, Hana, you just got here and you are going to eat dinner with your mother."

His mother stood, wiped a stray tear from her cheek, "We'll get takeaway on the way home," She said softly, "Come on Tobio." Kageyama glanced between them before slowly pushing himself to his feet and following his mother out of the garden and into the house.

"Alright, go then," His grandmother called after them, "You know life isn't a movie, Hana, you don't need to relive dramatic exits in order to make yourself feel better." Kageyama paused at that, looking over his shoulder at her but she flicked a hand to tell him to go, "No go on, Tobio, follow your stupid, fucking stubborn little mother. I'll see you at Christmas." He stepped back, biting his lip, before running out the door with his grandmother's anger chasing after him like a rabid dog.

His mother drove them home in a stony silence, only talking when they passed a rest-stop where she ordered them a burger meal each with milkshakes, and even then she was snappish and the poor worker almost dropped her change in his hurry to appease her.

 Kageyama almost spoke up to say that it wasn't the worker's fault that she was angry but he was afraid that that would just turn her onto him, so he made up for it by giving the alpha an apologetic look as they drove off instead.

They were a few minutes away from their home when she spoke again however, and she suddenly parked the car and turned in her seat to face him, "Tobio," She started but he spoke over her quickly, his words coming out in a burst from how long he'd kept them repressed.

"I'm sorry, mama," He said, "I didn't mean to bring it up with you, that's why I waited until you were in the kitchen, I - " She shook her head.

"You should have asked _me,_ not my mother, Tobio."

"I didn't want to upset you."

"No. You deserve to know more about your father, regardless of whether it upsets me," She said, "And it only upsets me is because I'm so _angry_ about it."

He pushed his headband back when he felt it slipping forward, putting his burger down, "Because of ba-chan?"

His mother sighed, putting her hands on the wheel and lowering her head, "Because of her, yes. And everyone else that had a part in driving her away, but also ... " She shut her eyes for a moment before looking back at him again, "I am beyond mad at your father too."

She scoffed then, explaining herself, "That she listened to them, and thought that leaving without a word was a good idea. She never told me she wasn't coming back to us and I waited. God I waited for her and I will never forgive her for that," She reached over and ran a hand through his hair, her fingers running through hi strands until she hit the ponytail that she'd tied for him back home, "The _only_ thing I don't regret from our relationship is you, babu. I will always be so happy I had you, even if your father turned out to be a coward."

He smiled at her and she smiled back, restarting the car, "I heard what you asked your grandmother too and no, she didn't leave because of you. And don't you ever think that, okay?" She pressed a kiss to his forehead, "Who could ever want to leave you?" He hummed thoughtfully and she laughed, pulling into their street, but inside he secretly thought that his father had. Whether she'd wanted to or not, she still had left him.

The next day, he woke up early for the weekend and looked at himself in the bathroom mirror, just after he'd washed his face. His cheeks were pink from how he'd rubbed them raw with soap and his hair was a mess of knots from rolling around in bed.

He glanced between his hairbrush and his hair several times then, noticing how it was as long and lively as his father's had been, and with that in his mind he opened the cupboard beneath the sink and took a pair of scissors to it all; slicing it off to his nape and glaring at his reflection until he felt comfortable meeting it's gaze.

-

An hour's drive away from him, Yuuki sat in her bedroom, looking through the letters that Hana had mentioned finding and tossing them into the trash where she should have thrown them from the start. She'd forgotten that when Su-Jin had left, Hana had stayed with her in a bout of grief until she'd eventually moved on, and she'd stayed in her room whilst she'd been here and so knew all the places that she left her paperwork.

Stupid of her to leave the letters there.

Once they were all binned she stood and opened her wardrobe, taking out the box of older letters and birthday cards that were left in there and tossing them away as well.

No one had ever told Su-Jin that the address had changed but she must have worked it out and had remembered Yuuki's, which had been more than annoying when a sudden influx of letters had started filling her postbox; all addressed to Hana or Tobio, or both.

The last card that she threw away was blue and it had some sort of korean boy-band on it in what was probably their 'signature look', holding the number _nine_ in their hands. She ripped it in half like she did the others, the last part of it falling into the bin with some kind of ironic finality, reading:

_, Love Dad x_

_._

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are golden <3
> 
> I'm Tony-in-distress on tumblr, come say hi!


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